Shinx Line/DPPt
Shinx is available on Routes 202, 203 and 204 in all three games. In Diamond and Pearl, it can also be found in the Fuego Ironworks, whereas in Platinum, it can also be found in Valley Windworks. In Diamond and Pearl, Luxio is also available in the Fuego Ironworks, whereas in Platinum it is available on Route 222. Shinx! As in, a member of one of the rarest types in all of Sinnoh. Diamond and Pearl only offer Raichu and Pachirisu in addition to Luxray, for Electric coverage, while Platinum players have it better, with the likes of Jolteon and Electivire. Luxray is one of a kind, in that for its generation, it is the only truly physical Electric-type around, exception made for the Platinum exclusive Electivire; sadly, its movepool is also somewhat disappointing until the introduction of Wild Charge. Nevertheless, the major pros of this line include strong attacks right off the bat, Bite and Spark specifically, as well as very early evolutions. Luxray is essentially the physical version of what Ampharos is to Johto; Intimidate specimens can function as physical tanks very well, thanks to their only weakness being Ground, which is easy to cover for with all the Water-types (and even easier with just about any starter, even Infernape, which does well against dual Rock/Ground Pokémon). It does, however, start suffering from lack of proper exploitation of its fantastic stats in the late game, especially since it does not get access to the elemental fangs in a nuzlocke. Overall, it is an amazing Pokémon to have in the early and mid-game, though it may lose some steam towards the end; still, it definitely remains very usable throughout. Important Matchups - Platinum = * Rival (Route 203): A Shinx that already knows Spark should be able to defeat both of the rival's Pokémon without problems, as the move outdamages everything the rival's team may have. A Shinx with just Tackle, on the other hand, may be able to beat Starly but then finds itself at odds against the starter; if it is below Spark level, use Charge against Starly in preparation for the next fight. * Gym #1 - Roark (Oreburgh City, Rock-type): Shinx stands no chance against this gym, as Tackle is its best asset for anything but Cranidos, and Cranidos completely wrecks it. Luxio, on the other hand, can take down Cranidos easily with Spark, but is still unable to fight the other two due to a chronic lack of Ground coverage. * Mars (Valley Windworks): Spark OHKOs Zubat and 3-4HKOs Purugly. Healing items are likely needed against the latter, which can 4HKO in turn and has Fake Out, which gives it the first turn advantage; its Speed is also higher than Luxio's. * Gym #2 - Gardenia (Eterna City, Grass-type): Most of this gym puts Luxio at a disadvantage. While Bite can do against Turtwig, it can set up Sunny Day for Cherrim, making its Attack and Special Defense go up by 50%. While neither of these changes affects Luxio, it could affect its teammates. If Luxray absolutely must fight Turtwig with Luxio, it must play its cards well so that Sunny Day is stalled out until right before Luxio knocks it out, leaving it no chances of setting it up again. In addition, Turtwig has Reflect, which helps it take even less damage from Luxio's Bite. Although Luxio can use Charge to reduce the damage taken from Gardenia's Pokémon, Roserade's Magical Leaf is outright frightening for anything that does not resist it, Luxio included. Overall, if better alternatives present themselves, do not have Luxio fight in this gym. * Jupiter (Galactic Eterna Building): Luxio eats Zubat for breakfast with Spark. Be very careful with Skuntank, however, as an Intimidate Luxio has chances of resisting two non-critical Night Slashes if Intimidate is in effect, but will take nearly its full health bar's worth of damage from a critical hit, and may even just die in one go, depending on nature and IVs as well as level. This is a very dangerous fight as well, since Skuntank is faster and has both Screech and SmokeScreen to threaten Luxio with; pulling off a victory without a casualty will be hard, though Luxio's Spark can help greatly if it manages to inflict paralysis. * Gym #3 - Fantina (Hearthome City, Ghost-type): Duskull and Haunter are both 2HKOed by Bite, unless Rivalry works against Luxio; their moves are not threatening at all, since they either come from low attacking stats or run off the wrong one, in the latter case. Mismagius, on the other hand, 2HKOs Luxio with Shadow Ball as well as outspeeding it, so it should not be fought; only an already evolved Luxray would be able to handle it. * Rival (Hearthome City): Spark OHKOs Staravia if Rivalry works in Luxio's favour, but not otherwise; if Spark leaves it in the red and it uses Endeavor, Luxio should be very wary of Quick Attack coming up next. Specimens with unfavourable Rivalry and hit by Intimidate will ironically not need to worry about this, as they are unlikely to inflict enough damage to get in Quick Attack KO range. In its natural state, at +0 Attack, Spark also 2HKOs Ponyta and Prinplup and OHKOs Buizel. Roselia can be 3HKOed with Bite, though Luxio needs to be healed from possible Stun Spore-induced paralysis and will likely need to switch out of Leech Seed. Grotle is too strong; Luxio should not fight it. * Gym #4 - Maylene (Veilstone City, Fighting-type): Thunderbolt annihilates Meditite and 2HKOs Machoke, significantly lessening Spark's probability of causing paralysis, which would activate Machoke's Guts; even if it does activate, Luxray can take a critical hit if need be. Lucario is not a good opponent by any means: its Bone Rush can kill Luxray from full health with five hits, and Luxray can only hope to 2HKO with Thunderbolt. The average damage - three hits - is still over half of Luxray's health, and Lucario is also faster, so Luxray should not face Lucario at all. * Rival (Pastoria City): Staravia's Intimidate is no longer a problem, now that it can be simply offed by Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt also OHKOs Buizel and has a chance to OHKO Prinplup which, even in the event of survival, can at best throw a BubbleBeam at Luxray. Ponyta and Monferno are both 2HKOed; neither of them can deal much damage. While Luxray is not the ideal opponent to fight Roselia with, it can still pull off a Bite 3HKO before Roselia becomes dangerous, and it can even surprisingly outmatch Grotle by outspeeding and dealing slightly more damage with Bite than Grotle does with Razor Leaf. * Gym #5 - Crasher Wake (Pastoria City, Water-type): Thunderbolt OHKOs Gyarados and Floatzel fair and square, but not Quagsire. While its only Ground move is Mud Shot, Luxray's Bite is still outdamaged by it. As Mud Shot is a 3-4HKO on average, heal stalling is possible, but a Grass option should be chosen if available, especially since Mud Shot can lower Luxray's accuracy and even more so if Rivalry is further hindering Luxray. * Cyrus (Celestic Town): Thunderbolt nets an OHKO against Golbat and Murkrow and a 2HKO against Sneasel. * Rival (Canalave City): Thunderbolt OHKOs Staraptor and Floatzel, and 2HKOs Empoleon, but Heracross has the upper hand over Luxray: Brick Break and Thunderbolt both 3HKO, and Heracross is faster. A Luxray with Intimidate that switches in when Heracross is sent out, however, can still win the matchup. Luxray can also take on Rapidash or Infernape, since Thunderbolt outdamages their moves, unless Luxray is male and has Rivalry. Roserade can be fought, but its Giga Drain will wear Luxray down and make it need healing items; same for Torterra which, despite not having any Ground moves, still outdamages Luxray's Crunch with Razor Leaf. Avoid the Grass-types if possible. * Gym #6 - Byron (Canalave City, Steel-type): Luxray can net a 3HKO against Magneton with Thunderbolt, providing Byron does not heal it and it does not start spamming Metal Sound before hitting with Tri Attack; prepare a backup in case this happens. Neither Steelix nor Bastiodon can be fought; Steelix has Earthquake, and Bastiodon's Metal Burst prevents Luxray from hitting it without being killed back. Heal stalling is possible, but if it uses Stone Edge instead, Luxray will have a hard time keeping up. * Saturn (Lake Valor): Go ahead and fry the Golbat, then 3HKO Bronzor with Thunderbolt as well. Do not fight Toxicroak: Luxray has a low chance of 2HKOing it, and its Poison Jab and Revenge attacks are both really strong; a critical Revenge can kill Luxray from full health. * Mars (Lake Verity): Golbat is easy Thunderbolt material, and Bronzor is nothing dangerous either. Purugly can also be 2HKOed with Thunderbolt, and its Slash is far from an issue for Luxray. * Gym #7 - Candice (Snowpoint City, Ice-type): Do not fight Piloswine and its Earthquake; Luxray may survive a hit, but it simply cannot win. Sneasel can be 2HKOed with Thunderbolt instead. While Crunch does 2HKO Froslass, consider using something with better coverage, as it could become very dangerous if it is left the opportunity to stack Double Teams and then hit everything with Blizzard, which has a chance to 2HKO Luxray in turn. Avoid Abomasnow altogether, it has Wood Hammer and deals much more damage than Crunch ever would to it. * Cyrus (Galactic HQ): Thunderbolt nets the 2HKO against Sneasel and Crobat and has a good chance of OHKOing Honchkrow. None of these Pokémon can do better than 3HKOing Luxray, so the fight is safe. * Saturn (Galactic HQ): Same team as the previous matchup, so the same considerations apply: Thunderbolt the Golbat, whittle down Bronzor with Thunderbolt. Toxicroak is also easier, as it gave up Revenge in favour of Brick Break; there is no longer any danger in fighting it. * Mars and Jupiter (Spear Pillar, tag battle with rival): Luxray is possibly one of the Pokémon with the best chances of participating in this fight and actually surviving it. It is not afraid of Bronzor, though it should definitely heal confusion as soon as possible if Confuse Ray hits it; the two Golbat coming up next are even less of an issue, and Jupiter's Golbat (the one to the right) should be defeated before the other, because it has Mean Look and can get nasty for weakened Pokémon. Thunderbolt 2HKOs the Bronzor and has reasonable chances of OHKOing the Golbat, providing that Light Screen is not up. Skuntank is also the other dangerous Pokémon to be wary of, possibly the only really dangerous one in their teams, but Luxray is not too afraid of Night Slash now and even Poison Jab only manages to 3HKO at best. However, it is also likely that Luxray will be weakened before this fight, and a Poison Jab that actually also scores the poisoning might chip away the remainder of its health. The recommended strategy is to take down all of Mars' Pokémon before Jupiter's Bronzor is even defeated, for maximum survival chances: Purugly and Bronzor are not scary on the same battlefield, and with only one of the Bronzor left, there is much less of a risk of Reflect and/or Light Screen interfering with Luxray's plans of defeating their whole team over time. Skuntank and Purugly should never be up and fighting at the same time on the other side of the battlefield; while relatively handlable alone, they become vicious if they are able to gang up on a single Pokémon, especially if their slashing moves score consecutive crits. * Cyrus (Distortion World): Houndoom's Flamethrower has a small 2HKO chance, which makes Houndoom a dangerous opponent; Spark 2HKOs for certain, but there is no saying whether Luxray will live two hits or not, as Houndoom outspeeds. Thunderbolt OHKOs Honchkrow and Gyarados, and has a small OHKO chance against Crobat. Mind Crobat's Confuse Ray in particular, and Cross Poison as well, from anywhere half health or below; critical hits can kill unexpectedly. Weavile has much higher Speed than Luxray and can 3HKO it, so unless Luxray must heal stall, Weavile should be left to another Pokémon. * Giratina (Distortion World): Luxray can win only if it manages to outspeed and 3HKO with Crunch before Giratina uses Shadow Force, which is a very unlikely scenario. Unless desperate, do not use Luxray here. * Gym #8 - Volkner (Sunyshore City, Electric-type): Crunch is good against Jolteon and Luxray, faring at an average 3HKO for the former and 4HKO for the latter; neither of them has moves that are stronger than Luxray's Crunch. It also outdamages Raichu's Focus Blast, though it will only 2HKO if Luxray has Intimidate, or Rivalry and is male; females with Rivalry will fail to 2HKO and thus be exposed to Raichu's Charge Beam Special Attack boosts, which may become problematic in the long run. Luxray cannot win against Electivire, however, as Giga Impact 2HKOs and Electivire outspeeds. * Rival (Pokémon League): Thunderbolt takes care of Staraptor and Floatzel, OHKOing them; it can also 2HKO Empoleon and Rapidash, neither of which can do the same in return, except in the event that Rapidash's Fire Blast causes a burn when it is first used. Roserade is doable; it will be generally 3HKOed by Crunch, considering Giga Drain recovery. Infernape will outspeed Luxray and beat it with Flamethrower, which is stronger than its Thunderbolt, whereas Snorlax can 2HKO it with Earthquake and absorb any of Luxray's moves; same for Torterra. Heracross is also best avoided: it can 2HKO with Close Combat and, in the remote chance that Thunderbolt paralyses it, Guts will activate and turn Close Combat into a straight up OHKO. * Elite Four Aaron (Pokémon League, Bug-type): Thunderbolt disposes of Yanmega and Vespiquen, and can also 2HKO Scizor, Drapion and Heracross, though the latter only if Close Combat is used. * Elite Four Bertha (Pokémon League, Ground-type): Luxray is completely hopeless against Bertha's Pokémon, and should not fight them at all. * Elite Four Flint (Pokémon League, Fire-type): Spark will 2HKO Flareon and Thunderbolt can be used to 2HKO Houndoom and Rapidash, and that is about it. Rapidash will also likely Flare Blitz in Luxray's face, or put up Sunny Day to aid its team; Infernape will simply 2HKO Luxray with Earthquake before it can do the same with its Electric STAB, and so will Magmortar with Flamethrower or Hyper Beam, so do not fight either of them, particularly if Sunny Day is still up. * Elite Four Lucian (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): Crunch Mr. Mime, then Crunch Espeon; the latter may live one hit, but its Psychic can only 3HKO. Alakazam also fails to 2HKO with Psychic, and gets destroyed by Crunch as a result. Gallade may be 2HKOed by Spark with lucky damage rolls, providing Luxray has Intimidate or a favourable Rivalry, but otherwise gets the upper hand over Luxray thanks to Psycho Cut and Drain Punch. Lastly, Bronzong poses a double threat being capable of shielding itself from special hits with Calm Mind, as well as 3HKOing Luxray with Earthquake; defeat it more swiftly with a better suited Pokémon. * Champion Cynthia (Pokémon League): Thunderbolt outdamages Spiritomb's Dark Pulse, being a 2-3HKO; Milotic is a good opponent for Luxray, which can 2HKO with Spark, but special moves must not be used or it will kill Luxray back with Mirror Coat. Togekiss is 2HKOed by Thunderbolt; Lucario may be fought if Luxray's Special Defense is good, as Thunderbolt is highly likely to 2HKO, but otherwise its own Aura Sphere will give it the upper hand. Roserade puts Luxray at a disadvantage with STAB Sludge Bomb and the high chance of poisoning; while the move is a 3HKO, residual poison damage turns it into a 2HKO, which is better than what Luxray's Crunch can do. Avoid Garchomp, as it has Earthquake. * Post-Game: For an early route catch, Luxray has definitely done enough, if it managed to get this far. }} Moves A freshly captured Shinx only knows Tackle. It learns Leer at level 5, and then Charge at level 9. Charge is fairly good in the early game, as it boosts Special Defense by one stage until an Electric move is used, and Shinx has none as of yet. In Diamond and Pearl, it then learns Bite at level 13 and Spark at level 18 as Luxio, whereas in Platinum, Spark comes first and Bite is next. Both are excellent moves with great base power for this point in the game, especially Spark, and should be kept until better alternatives come around. The next two moves are not that good; Roar at level 23 and Swagger at level 28 are not going to see much use on this Pokémon. However, Swagger can work well against specially oriented foes; just make sure they have no physical coverage to account for, before the move is used. After evolving into Luxray, once again, there is a difference in the Diamond and Pearl versus Platinum learnsets: in the first case, it gets the useful Crunch at level 35, and later on the useless Thunder Fang at level 42; in Platinum, the reverse happens. Thunder Fang is not really worth it; it is less accurate than Spark and has a lesser paralysis rate as well. The last two level-up moves it gets are Scary Face, at level 49, which is nothing short of hilariously bad, and then Discharge at level 56, which can be good on special Luxray, but will generally be outclassed by the long-since-available Thunderbolt TM in Veilstone. Sadly, other than Thunderbolt, the TM movepool does not offer much more to this line. A set with Rain Dance and Thunder is possible, but probably not worth it, with Luxray's low Speed. Thunder Wave can help it compensate for its slowness, but only lasts for as long as the paralysed enemy is on the battlefield. A better support move is Light Screen, which works very well with Luxray's good bulk, and even better when paired with Intimidate. Recommended moveset: Light Screen, Thunder Wave, Crunch, Thunderbolt Recommended Teammates * Grass-types: There is no best partner for a pure Electric-type than a Grass-type. Leading with Luxray is very effective in presence of a Grass companion, which can take the Ground hits that Luxray cannot. Dual Grass-types that lose the Ground resistance are not recommended, but can work in absence of other choices. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Torterra, Carnivine, Abomasnow, Leafeon (Platinum only), Tangrowth (Platinum only), Tropius (Platinum only) * Water- or Flying-types: Although Grass-types are better by far, Water and Flying are other good types to complement Luxray with. Water-types have an offensive advantage, but lose the Ground resistance/immunity; Flying-types, on the other hand, have a defensive edge, but may still find themselves at a disadvantage against the many Ground-types with Rock coverage. ** Good Pokémon that fit this description include, among others: Staraptor, Gyarados, Crobat, Golduck, Gastrodon, Whiscash, Azumarill, Milotic, Gliscor (Platinum only), Vaporeon (Platinum only), Altaria (Platinum only), Togekiss (Platinum only) Other Shinx's stats Luxio's stats Luxray's stats * What Nature do I want? Luxray is one of the very few Pokémon that essentially needs all of its stats. Sadly, this also means even giving up 10% in a single one of them will hinder it some, though it also means that whatever stat is boosted will benefit from it. In terms of raw percentages, the stats that lose the least are Speed first and foremost, and then the two Defenses; natures such as Brave or Relaxed, for example, can work well with it. But overall, it can be a good Pokémon with just about any nature. * Which Ability do I want? Intimidate. Rivalry is so situational it hurts, and may even compromise matchups in some cases. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? A Luxio helps against Roark, particularly on teams with unevolved starters; it should then evolve into Luxray before Maylene in Diamond and Pearl, and anytime between Fantina and Maylene in Platinum. Luxray can be evolved before the Fantina fight too, though that would mean overlevelling. * How good is the Shinx line in a Nuzlocke? It is very good in the beginning, though the lack of good physical Electric STAB penalises it in the long run. It is still reliable and benefits greatly from not seeing a lot of Ground-types around, but it could be better. It should also be noted, however, that Diamond and Pearl do not offer much more in terms of Electric-types; Platinum, on the other hand, provides both Jolteon and Electivire, which Luxray finds difficult to compete against for the Electric spot. * Weaknesses: Ground * Resistances: Flying, Steel, Electric * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Normal, Fighting, Poison, Rock, Bug, Ghost, Fire, Water, Grass, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Dark Category:Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses